John Donne

Born in London in 1573 into a Catholic family, he studied first at Oxford, then at Cambridge. In 1572 he traveled to the Azores as part of the Earl of Essex's expedition. As secretary to Lord Egerton, he fell in love with and secretly married Egerton's niece, Anne More, in 1601. Her father had him arrested. With his career ruined, the poet held various minor positions until accepting ordination as a priest in 1615. At this time, he renounced all his secular poetry. Six years later he was appointed Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, a post he held until his death in 1631. In his later years, fame came from his metaphysical poems, but mainly from his sermons.